So Deutsche has initiated coverage of SCO with a rating of "Buy" ...
and set a price target of $45. SCOX surged up $5 or 33% to about $20 in early trading...

Stock analysts smoke crack

Decius wrote:
] ] But Sclavos also said he thinks much of the fury against
] ] VeriSign originates with companies that compete in the
] ] retail sale of domain names. Severing that part of the
] ] business could, in theory, blunt some of the critics.
]
] Verisign is pursuing this for another reason, which is not
] discussed in this article. Most of the restrictions on
] their management of the tlds which were referenced in ICANN's
] demand that SiteFinder be shutdown are restrictions on
] anti-competitive behavior vis-a-vis other domain name
] registrars. If Verisign is NOT a domain name registrar then
] they don't need to worry about creating a level playing field
] between the access they have, and the access that other domain
] name registrars have. Many of the restrictions on their
] activity in the ICANN contracts would go away.
]
] Its hard to say if this move is specifically directed at
] making SiteFinder legal, or if Verisign has any other tricks
] waiting in the wings if the contractual concerns with
] SiteFinder are resolved in their favor. What IS clear is that
] this is an important move in the fight over SiteFinder, and
] its implications could be significant for those who don't wish
] to see the "service" restarted.

Who is NetSol's .com/.net contract with? Dept. of Commerce? How about not renew it or take it away from them?

It is *crazy* that .com/.net should be run by a for-profit company which will be incented to do dumbass things like sitefinder ... it should be operated by a non-profit/non-government organization, overseen by ICANN/IAB/IETF/etc.

And how much is being able to run sitefinder really worth to verisign, anyway? Is it really worth getting involed in a nasty legal battle with ICANN and *making everyone that actually runs the net hate them*??

RE: Verisign to sell off Network Solutions, keep tlds

] Motorola said yesterday that it planned to divest its
] struggling semiconductor operations from its cellphone
] and communications equipment businesses, a step that had
] long been favored by Wall Street and opposed by top
] management.

Damn...

Motorola Will Spin Off Its Money-Losing Semiconductor Business

] SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Sun Microsystems Inc.'s shares
] plunged more than 15 percent Tuesday after the troubled
] computer maker said it would revise its fourth-quarter
] results to take a $1.05 billion charge.

Oops ...

InformationWeek : Financial News : Sun Stock Plummets After Announcing A $1.05 Billion Charge : September 30, 2003

Decius wrote:
] A summary of the latest SCO news, but the best part is the
] icon they use to classify the story... perfect!

LOL!

RE: A news icon for the SCO case...

] The report states, "To regain competitiveness, Sun must
] de-emphasize Sparc/Solaris and bet its future on Intel,
] Linux and Web services. Unfortunately, McNealy seems
] unable to drive such fundamental transformation. At this
] point, the only thing that will save Sun from becoming
] the next Digital Equipment is a near-death experience and
] a CEO from the outside."

More pooping on Sun.

Forbes.com: Sun Micro Fights Back After Caustic Report

] The unexpected deals that Visa USA and MasterCard
] International made this week to settle a lawsuit over
] their fees are likely to restyle the robust market for
] debit cards, possibly reshaping where and how consumers
] can use them, industry experts said yesterday.

Settlement Seen as Changing Ways Consumers Use Debit Cards

]
] Viacom doubled its laughs today.
]
] AOL Time Warner announced that it had agreed to sell its
] half of a joint venture in the Comedy Central cable
] channel to Viacom, its partner, for $1.225 billion in
] cash.

AOL Agrees to Sell Its Comedy Channel Stake to Viacom

] The nation's Bell companies are quietly lobbying the
] nation's top regulators at the Federal Communications
] Commission. Their goal is to slap new charges on

This article reminds me of the forwards that went around a few
years ago that the USPS was going to start taxing e-mail. While
the RBOCs may get the FCC to let them charge for net to POTS calls,
I have a hard time imangining them having any way to do anything
about net to net calls ....

Will the Bells crush Net calling?

I dunno ... I'm kinda' inclined to think that Sun deserves to lose
at this point. I've said this about Apple in the past but I think the difference is that Apple has a large, loyal, user base and Sun, well... people seem to resent Sun. Carnegie Mellon's IT group is essentially phasing out Sun because the hardware is too expensive and too slow. They are now migrating AFS File Servers to Dell boxes running Linux which would've been unthinkable even 2 years ago.

I'm not sure that the author's proposal that Sony (of all people)
absorb Sun makes a whole lot of sense. I have a hard time
seeing Sony getting anywhere close to enterprise computing...

no SnApple